The prior art reveals several attempts directed toward obtaining a homogeneous, shelf-stable table syrup. The approaches used to obtain such a product have generally included the use of various emulsifier systems together with an assortment of stabilizing agents to produce table syrups that are basically oil-in-water emulsion-type systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,057,734 discloses a table syrup product having at least about 65% by weight sugar solids and containing a stable oil-in-water emulsion having fat or butter fat present in amounts of 1.0-4.0% by weight. To obtain the stable emulsion, a stabilizing agent is used such as water-dispersible proteins, gum arabic and edible algin derivatives. Interestingly, this patent discloses that conventional emulsifiers such as the "Spans," "Tweens" and other fatty-acid based emulsifiers are ineffective to stabilize fat-in-sugar syrup emulsions.
A table syrup containing at least 65% by weight sugar and having a stable oil-in-water emulsion is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,282,707. The emulsifier system contains 1.0-4.0% butter fat, 0.02-0.05% lecithin and 0.1-1.0% gum ghatti which is purported to be more effective against stabilization than other stabilizers such as algin derivatives.
A product similar to that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,282,707 above is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,362,833. The table syrup product of this patent also comprises 65% sugar and a stable oil-in-water emulsion having 1.0-4.0% of an edible oil and 0.1-1.0% gum ghatti as stabilizer. While this patent also discloses the use of lecithin as stabilizer as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,282,707, its claims include only gum ghatti as the stabilizer.